Weekend at Turkey Run

This weekend we took a short family vacation to Turkey Run State Park to celebrate spring and two years of marital bliss. Hazel asked if she could come along and promised to behave when hiking, so we agreed she could come too. We left Friday afternoon, after we had all settled down from the earthquake which struck early Friday morning. Fortunately, Hazel wakes up sometime between 5 am and 6 am, and Friday, she awoke at 5:15, so we were sitting up in bed wondering why the house was rocking when the temblor hit at 5:38 am. But, everyone was unharmed and there was no damage done, so we headed off on our trip.

The weather on Friday was gorgeous, sunny with temperatures in the mid 70s, so when we arrived at the park around 2:00, after feeding Hazel and getting her changed and settled, we took off on a hike. Glenn planned our route very carefully. We were going to be out for about 3 hours and stick to the "rugged" or "very rugged" trails. That's pretty much how it went too. We arrived back at the Inn just in time for dinner.

Hazel enjoyed her hike in the front pack. Daddy got quite a workout.

The scenery was beautiful, even if the terrain was a bit rugged.

A lot of the trail led us through creek beds and over fallen timber.
But we are intrepid explorers and can handle anything.

Hazel discovers a waterfall.

Apparently "very rugged" trails require ladder climbing skills.

On Saturday, the temperatures dropped to the mid 50s and there was a damp misty fog hanging over the park. So we decided to make the most of the situation and pursue Plan B. Since Parke County, Indiana is the "Covered Bridge Capitol" of the world, we took a covered bridge driving tour. Hazel and I mapped out our route and saw a total of 16 covered bridges, before winding up in Greencastle for lunch. While in Greencastle, Daddy took Hazel and Momma on a tour of his old University, including a guided tour of the Delta Chi fraternity house. Then we headed back to the Inn and went swimming in the pool before dropping into bed, exhausted. An interesting note: there was a wedding at the Inn on Saturday night, and wedding guests were being particularly noisy outside our room at 4:30 in the morning. When I got done telling them that it was time they were in bed, Glenn asked me when I became the tired, old, crotchety killjoy. I guess it was about the time I learned how long it takes to get a six month old infant back to sleep at 4:30 in the morning.

Hazel plans our bridge route.

The Narrows Covered Bridge, one of the 16 we saw on Saturday.

Hazel is excited about her first time in a real swimming pool.